James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Monday, December 4, 2017

Pigcasso is a 450lb pig in Cape Town, South Africa. She was rescued from the slaughterhouse by Joanne Lefson.

Ms. Lefson introduced Pigcasso to paint and brushes, and trained her with strawberries as the reward.

Now Pigcasso seems to enjoy wielding the brush. Her tastes tend toward abstraction, with an energetic and gestural sense of mark-making. Lefson says Pigcasso likes to paint landscapes beside the ocean and that she signs her work at the end by dipping her nose in white paint and dabbing the finished canvas.----Metro UK: Meet Pigcasso
Previously on GJ:Why Do Chimps Paint?Chimp and Elephant ArtAnimals are Not Fauvists

Susan, those are good questions, and it is fascinating to try to find out what level of satisfaction the pig may be getting from it. We're not seeing the trainer conditioning the pig with treats and snacks, and we're not seeing the color changes. I presume that pigs would be red-green color blind, but they'd see light and dark of course and also blue vs. orange. The elephant-painting videos raise similar questions. Some trainers, while admitting it's a trained behavior, say that they really do enjoy making marks on paper. The links at the end of the post lead to other stories of animals who paint.

Just came across an article on heart transplantation:This kind of technique has far advanced since Barnard's first successful attempt: The difficulty lies in availability - there are too many patients waiting for a transplant versus insufficient supply.Am I veering completely off topic?

Not quite, I would say: There's intense research going on to get over that shortage: A pig's heart would nearly match the human anatomy, they found out, very close - it might do the "pumping-job". Don't know; but a first transplant of this sort seems to be imminent.

In the late 80s one could easily come across a news story about one zoo elephant or another said to enjoy painting. Here is a 1998 article about elephants as artists:http://www.artistsezine.com/WhyElephant.htm

Those pictures on the link strike me as inferior (immature), compared to elephant-made artwork I've seen in a magazine article years ago. If I come across it again, I might scan it for you.

Years back, I was in the middle of a promising watercolour painting, which was on our dining room table. While I was waiting for the first wash to dry, I popped into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. On my return I discovered our cat was sitting right in the middle of it. The painting was past saving.